The Contest For Those We've Left Behind
by MessengerOfDreams
Summary: Think Super Smash Brothers and you think Marth, Samus. Do you honestly think Donkey Kong or Doctor Mario? Well we're challenging you to. Any genre, any length. Show us what you can really do- give us a tale of the ones we've left behind! IT'S ABOUT TIME- THE RESULTS ARE OUT!
1. Chapter 1

"_We're late! Dreadfully late!"_

"_Sorry, MoD! My car broke down!"_

"_And mine too!"_

"_So did mine!"_

"_I know, right? And the only car left was Kat's friggin clunker."_

"_I hate the bus."_

"_Hell, I advocate for the bus, and I hate it sometimes."_

"_Well, here we are. Put some smiles on."_

"_May as well. Best of luck, guys."_

The spotlights crashed on above the four judges. 

At the head of their table sat MessengerOfDreams, beaming welcomingly out into the sea of writers assembled around him. Applause erupted from the other tables, and signs popped up spontaneously from clusters of fans expressing the their love for his epic works such as _Paradigms _and _Strings,_ as well as their general wishes to have his babies, etc, etc. Unfortunately for them, MoD certainly did not have babies in his upcoming plans, so he scurried along to his seat. 

Next, all eyes fell upon Araceli L, and further love was expressed towards the talented Oneshot-weaver, the young prodigy behind _The Girl With One Eye_ and _If Only You Knew_, aside from other awesome pieces. 

Next, to MouseMaster42 went their gazes, which were held in amazement as people realized that they were actually looking at the author of _The Game_, one of the community's most entertaining and well-known Oneshot collections. 

The cheers died to general mumblings of confusion as people realized Kattheamazing had been invited to be a judge, because it was the shared understanding that hyperactive children weren't supposed to be in positions of responsibility.

MoD glanced at the crowd. "_At Sea? Error Code 39? _C'mon, people! Show some love!" Everyone complied with disjointed applause, which MoD determined to be good enough. 

Behind the crowd, on separate table, a troupe of shadowed outlines was seated, missed by the spotlights illuminating the judge's table. The gathered authors turned curiously, dropping their popcorn, bazookas and other paraphernalia in an attempt the get a glance at the people seated in darkness. However, their attention was promptly whipped back to the front by a hasty throat-clearing from MessengerOfDreams. 

Snatching a glance at the paper in his grasp, he began."Authors, fangirls, psychopaths- lend me your ears. To everyone seated out there- to everyone and anyone who can provide it- we need your help. This meeting is a call to your keyboards. If you're a fan fiction reader, a fan fiction writer, an author with a disturbing obsession for Ganondorf x Pikmin-related literature, this contest is for you." 

"My attention span in running out! Hurry the frick up!" some random kid yelled from the crowd. 

MessengerOfDreams sweat-dropped. "Tough crowd!" he shouted as he pushed the script into the hands of MouseMaster42. 

"Today is the kickoff for a competition that will require every ounce of your creativity. It's a bit different, we admit. Your entries won't just be limited to romantic dramas or comedy fixes, although those are absolutely fine- we only want from you what you do best. This is, The Contest For Those We've Left Behind." MouseMaster42 said. "You probably have an idea of what I'm talking about when I say that, but I'll leave the specifics for now. Kat?" 

Kattheamazing accepted the script. "The contest's main host and judge is our very own Messenger of Dreams, with myself, Araceli L and MouseMaster42 chipping in too." 

"We'll be reading entries, making announcements, and providing the prizes for the contest," Araceli L said, before breaking a smile. "And we have some pretty good prizes, if that's any incentive." 

"If you're here now," Messenger of Dreams said, making a wide gesture that fell upon every member of the eccentric mass about him, "then you have been personally invited to take part. You might choose to decline, and that's fair enough, but before you make that decision, I think you deserve to know why we're doing this in the first place." 

"You see," Araceli cut in. "this isn't just an announcement, it's a meeting to take on an ongoing problem. An problem that's gone unnoticed by the majority since the creation of the Super Smash Brothers section." 

"We'll leave it to Mousey to explain," Kattheamazing said, and the lights dimmed around her and the other two judges, leaving MouseMaster42 in the glare. 

"Alright," MouseMaster42 said as she briefly looked down at a letter before addressing the crowd assembled before the four. "We have a very important issue to go over today-this could be life or death."

The crowd quieted, their curiosity piqued, as MessengerOfDreams stood up to begin to explain. "We have received several letters about how the Brawl creators are hoping to upgrade the game," he said, his voice quiet and thoughtful. "And they're starting to weed out some of the unpopular characters. We've invited some of the characters in question here tonight and..."

The crowd all instantly turned around to see the group of beings sitting at one of the back tables. At one of the judge's cue, a spotlight switched on, throwing the guest Smashers into stark shadow. They all winced in unison and held their hands up to block their faces, and the gesture was accidentally misinterpreted by the crowd as some sort of salute. The Smashers were loudly applauded, and they accepted the applause a little awkwardly, for they weren't used to it. 

The crowd quieted down and turned back around to face the raised table where the four sat as MessengerOfDreams raised his voice again. "And you'll notice that you might not see your favorite among that group. Is anyone noticing that?"

"Yeah!" came the nearly unanimous shout back from the crowd. A few people pointed out certain characters, crying out things like "Where's Marth?" or "Why didn't you guys invite Samus?" or even an astonished "Who's that guy?"

"'That guy' is Dr. Mario," Kattheamazing sighed patiently. "And the fact that you don't know who he is is the fact that we're here to talk about today. Mousey?"

MouseMaster42 stood up, momentarily taking MessengerOfDreams' place as the center of attention. "All of you are fanfiction authors, right?"

"Right.?" the crowd answered curiously, unable to guess what was coming next.

"How many of you write Marth fics?" MouseMaster42 asked. About one fifth of the audience raised their hands, MouseMaster42 and Araceli L among them. "Right, no shame there," Mouse continued. "He's a popular guy. How many of you write Zelda and Link fics?"

A large number of people raised their hands again.

"Ike?" she called. "Ike, Zelda, Sheik, Roy, Link, Samus, Peach, Mario, Pit, Lucas, Ness, or Sonic. Who writes about those guys?"

Nearly every single hand in the room went up, including all four hosts.

"Exactly," MouseMaster42 concluded. "And you'll notice that all of the people I mentioned are not the ones who are not here today. It's not because we're cheap, it's not because we don't like you guys, it's because we have a dilemma here. These characters,"-she threw an arm out in the direction of the Smashers in the back, and at her cue the spotlight flashed on them again for emphasis-"Are sick and tired of being ignored!"

There was a chorus of hollers and cheers from the Smasher's end of the room.

Araceli L took over MouseMaster42's place as she stood up as well. "Every day these Smashers are neglected simply because they aren't fan favorites. They don't get the fame and glory they deserve just because we-the public-haven't become as attached to them as we have the others. What do those guys have that these Smashers don't?"

Another loud shout of agreement went up from the representing Smashers.

"Come on, guys," MouseMaster42 said quietly. "You all say you write about the popular characters. How many of you write about the other ones? How many of you write about Bowser, Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, Lucario, Mr. Game&Watch, or R.O.B.?"

Several hands went up, a large number of the people with defiant expressions on their faces. 

"How many of you have them as your main character?"

A large number of the hands went down. MoD kept his up with a smirk as he challenged them with "Don't you think those people have stories too? Yet nobody seems to be telling them. And because of that, these stories are going unheard."

"And because their stories aren't being heard, there's the danger that these characters will disappear completely," MouseMaster42 continued. "We're here to start a movement go fix that. We're here to challenge you to revive all of those lost characters. We want to bring them back-and we want you guys to help us do it."

"How?" someone asked.

Kattheamazing grinned. "The best way we know. We're going to bring them back through writing."

The entire crowd seemed to perk up a little at that. Energy started to fill the air as ideas started flowing, even though nobody yet had a firm grasp of what was being asked.

"We're going to appeal to the people who want to leave out these forgotten characters through our writing," MessengerOfDreams said enthusiastically, as he was showing everyone his brainchild. "We're going to show off these guys in the best light possible."

"We're going to convince people that these guys have just as much potential to be main characters as Marth and Samus and the rest of them!" MouseMaster42 called. "They're sick of being just background characters, cameos, and fillers. They deserve to have their shot at glory, and they need to be given this shot soon, otherwise it'll be too late."

The crowd fell silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts. The atmosphere had swelled, but was still contained. The people still didn't know what was expected of them.

"How do we do this?" someone from the audience finally shouted.

"That's where MessengerOfDreams comes in," MouseMaster42 said as she sat back down at the judges' table.

The lanky young adult took a seat at the conference table, a stack of papers in his hand. "Keep in mind, my friends," he stated, "that while we may be embarking on a noble task of sorts, I do have some rules to make sure our pieces turn out as best as they can, to make sure we present our friends in a good light. They range from guidelines, you know, like the pirate code, to serious ones that I will definitely get my ass-kicking shoes on should I spot them." He accented this last unnerving sentence with a mischievous raise of the eyebrow. "Remember that we have a lot of power in this situation and to misuse it could end catastrophically."

Araceli herself, despite being one of the judges and organizers, looked pretty concerned at his statement. "...comforting..." was all she muttered.

"I know, right?" MoD chuckled nervously. "But hey..."

He adjusted his papers before starting. "First things first, the most important and severe of the rules. This rule is important if we are to save the brawlers. That is to not go OOC, unless under extreme circumstances." His gaze was harsh on the crowd as he continued, as this was a problem that truly got under his skin.

"Now, there's a reason that two particular characters, Snake and Captain Falcon, were included. They aren't in as large an amount of jeopardy as the others, but with the reputation they have of being the whipping boy in many a fic is far out of their true personality, and is damaging their true reputations and this is concerning to Nintendo. So do not portray them as the sleazy, sexist, perverted personalities that they often are punished with."

Mouse could tell there was a fire in his speech, and found it evident the passion, whether overwhelming and borderline impolite or not, that was behind this statement. With a whisper only MoD could hear, she whispered "You might want to tone it down." Stiffly, he nodded, and she offered him a reassuring smile.

He lowered his bravado before continuing, the audience looking a bit tense. "And, really," he made his tone somewhat gentle, "this goes for all the characters. Unless you want to document a change into an OC form, such as rising from the ashes or a change of heart sort of story, keep them OC and display the true personalities of the character. Don't necessarily kiss their rear ends, but keep them true.

"If you do go massively OOC, you will be told to do one of three things.

"Number one is to, if possible, change their personality to somewhat recognizable. I'll be kind enough to point out your mistakes, and make sure not to be nitpicky. Then I can wish you luck and you can be on your merry way with your story.

"Number two is that you may, if necessary, completely restart your project or start a new one without incident, but by all means don't discard your rejected project. There's good in every fic even if didn't coincide with the rules.

"Number three is that if you're offended or generally pissed off at my statement, I will allow you to depart from the competition. It'll be sad, but I'll allow it. I encourage you not to get disheartened."

Flipping to the next paper- Kat tried to hold in a surprised chuckle at the fact of rule one covering both sides- MoD went to rule two.

"...have I nerved you out?" he asked sheepishly.

Half the crowd nodded. "Kind of scary, actually..." one stated. "...a lot of pressure."

"Heh heh," MoD smiled uncertainly, "well then, the next rule will ease that a good deal. After this, you are not very limited at all. Ninety-nine percent of the genres are open to you, with the exception of crackfics, which these characters pretty much as the entirety of their whole ficcing resume and usually consists of making all the characters morons. Not what we want.

"But romance, which I'll add a note to in rule three, sci-fi, thriller, more sophisticated humor, anything, really. Also, I'm sure that one or two of you know about my 30,000 word contest entry, so I figure it'd be pretty hypocritical to give you a word limit. If you can crank out a large story in a month and a half, be my guest."

Flipping a page, he continued. "As for rule three, it's a bit more freedom. If you choose romance, I invite any of the more famous smashers in the pairing with a lesser known. I mean," he added with a full grin, "Luigi and Sheik is probably my OTP, whatever the hell that means."

Unfortunately, he caused the audience to steer off track with his statement. "Luigi and Sheik?" one stated with disdain. "That makes no sense on so many levels."

"That's... just weird."

"Hey," MoD grumbled, "then don't write about it."

An energetic girl's voice shouted in the background "Crazy pairings forever! Pichu and Diddy Kong, Mewtwo and Peach, me and Pikachu-"

"Thank you," MoD spoke over to interrupt and hereby get the situation under control, "my loyal supporter. But, as I was saying, the lesser known character must take up at least half the spotlight, so no Sheik pining for Luigi in secret and then Luigi appears in the last few sentences. Also, in other stories, you can have a popular character in a smaller role or cameo, at least where he or she is the 3rd or 4th most featured character. And you can have an assist trophy in a somewhat significant role, but do keep in mind that we just got out of an assist trophy contest, so it may need a rest.

"Next is a way to keep all the entries compact- to make sure the judges can access the stories, please don't put it under MoD's contest or Araceli's, or Kat's or Mouse's. We've created a damn cool name to have you use. When you write the description, interject that it is Modacelimazing42's contest. Now write that however you want, just so long as Modacelimazing42 runs the contest."

MoD cracked his knuckles and said "Now for the fun stuff! For this stuff, I'm gonna have my dear friend Kattheamazing present to you."

He got out of his seat and Kattheamazing, somewhat eager, leapt into the seat. "Alright people, this isn't all serious and dire, there is an optimistic side to it. Namely, prizes, deadlines, notes, _prizes," _she emphasized with an eyebrow raise.

"Now what shall I go with first?"

A random voice cheered "Deadlines! The most interesting part of a contest!"

Confused conversation took place among the crowd, and an annoying member shouted "I want that man removed!"

"Whoa, chill!" Kat snapped, not about to let him ruin the mood. "What's the big deal? Blah..." she focused on the paper.

"Now, let's just go with the prizes, to pacify _certain people. _Now, for third place, we have a nice little certificate made on the excellent online art engine known as Sumo Paint. Now, let me deviate, pun not intended but certainly welcome, into a way you can keep track of the art of the contest. We're using a DeviantArt account under the epic name of Modacelimazing42 where we have posted sample art, started by myself, so you can see what we have in store and get excited."

Mousey grinned and ran into a closet, confusing everyone.

"Is... she gonna come back out in costume garb as MightyMouse?" MoD quipped.

Araceli laughed. "Just you wait," she told him.

"Got it!" Mouse shouted, carrying a large photo framed on some plain black posterboard. "I've brought a couple amazing pictures to show you this kick-ass girl's movement, courtesy of Ace and myself." Ace kicked up a plastic easel and Mouse presented the pictures gallery-style on the easel and placed it for all to see. There were impressed oohs and wows, and at least one "Damn!" that sounded not unlike Gabriel Iglesias.

Kat was beaming, grinning ear to ear. "You guys rock," she stated with a laugh, and the two of them grinned with a thumbs up, MoD throwing one in despite not being too involved.

"Anyway," Kat continued, "As for second, you get a certificate like the others or a custom book cover and a prizefic with the characters of your choice. The first placer, though, gets a rocking prize package consisting of a prizefic and certificate like second place, and a custom book cover by my MoD man over there- er, whatever. They also get an alternate ending written by us, and the option to trade your prizefic for a collaboration with the judge of your choice. Hyped enough?"

The audience was responding in kind, talking amongst themselves.

"As for deadlines, for our eager, if not odd fellow in the back, we're envisioning a deadline in the middle of August, probably the seventeenth. On July 17th, there will be a roll call to round up current stories conveniently on MoD's birthday, and hopefully early-to-mid September we should have the results up. Which beats the hell out of a ten month wait."

"Hey!" a voice yelled, chucking lightheartedly.

"Just funning with ya, Stu. Anyway," she stated, "that's the tall and the short of it. Any questions?"

The audience was dead quiet, nervous and apprehensive, even intimidated looks on their faces.

Kat grimaced. "Not good." 

The members gazed blankly as Kat turned her head down and went to left stage, a bit intimidated and awed by the task facing them. Their eyes shone in the reflection of the currently-unoccupied spotlight on stage, as the four judges waited for something to happen, for someone to say something. Then murmurs broke through the quiet people and snaked their way through, but the judges picked up the general gist of it.

How could they do it? They were good, sure, but with this task and unfamiliarity, not good enough. There was no way they could save their favorite. They couldn't prove anything.

The judges shot each other panicked looks, unsure of exactly what to say or how to say it. But somebody had to say _something_ – these people were scared. And they needed some encouragement.

Gaining a little courage, Araceli walked timidly into the light, wincing at the brightness. And then she proceeded to blurt out whatever ran through her brain.

"If you write from your heart, you can never regret it. Writing with passion is the key to unlocking something beautiful, so we want you to wow us. As MoD says, Let them forget nothing. Stay true to yourself and don't be afraid to be a little controversial, a little different, a little shocking and a little sweet, whichever is you. And to ruin this cookie and lace dolly talk,_ HAVE BALLS SO BIG YOU'D NEED A SEPERATE COFFIN IF YOU DIED_." MoD stifled impressed laughter as she continued, "Or, don't be afraid to have balls. Odds are we'll love it. Write from your heart. Write with a love and a dream – because you can create a masterpiece, no matter what. No matter if it's horror or romance or drama or even humor, you can write something beautiful. So wow us and don't hold back."

The audience, for the most part, looked unimpressed. With that, the writer turned to go back when she saw someone smile, a thoughtful look on their face. Araceli grinned at Kattheamazing from that person's smile, and she grinned back. And, feeling a little bit braver, hoping she could encourage these writers, the second author took the limelight.

"This is a competition, people. What does that mean? Prizes." She started.

"What is it with you and pri-"

"I'm encouraging up here, sport!" she interrupted the heckler. "Anyway, so don't just sit there with your hands hovering apprehensively over the keys- write. Ignore all fear of judgment, push over your inner-critic if it's telling you that you can't do this, and go at your entry like the insane genius you are. Give in to the testosterone-fueled need to be better than everyone else, because admit it, you aren't going enter a competition that allows you this much freedom again. Even if you don't think you'll win, take the leap and have a go, because that, my friend, is bravery. We're looking for guys and girls with big enough balls -in the treasured words of Araceli L- to attempt at bringing us some of the most powerful fiction out there. Confidence is the key. Let's face it- you've got what it takes to get first place. Every one of you does, but the question is, who's prepared to believe it?"

A few people clapped, and a few hollers and cheers were heard. Grinning wide, Kattheamazing high-fived the others as MouseMaster42 took the stage, fighting off sudden nervousness. No, she knew exactly what to say.

"The whole point of contests like these is to show off what you can do. Take an idea-no matter how crazy or outlandish it may seem-and see what you can do with it. Pour yourself into the story and give us your best. Don't be scared about what other people think, just let your style shine. It doesn't matter if your story makes us laugh or cry, so long as you wrote to the best of your abilities. If you enjoyed writing it, you can bet that we'll enjoy reading it! Use this competition as a chance to get noticed-wow us with what you can do. Above all, have fun with this! Think of it like a challenge: we're challenging you to write the most meaningful thing you've ever written. We're challenging you to write something that will leave us sitting in our chairs thinking 'Holy cow!'"

On a roll, she continued with an excited giggle "We're challenging you to believe in yourself, and use your writing to make us believe in you too. We're challenging you to rise above and beyond the competition. There are so many amazing authors here -yourself included- that you're going to need every ounce of skill you have to stand out among everyone else. Good luck to all contesters!"

She blushed from her slip of the word "contesters", but nobody noticed amid the rising hoots and woots. Within the claps and occasional strange "aye!", MouseMaster42 left the big circle of light, holding in her giggles of part nervousness and part joy.

And finally, providing the final word on it all, was MessengerofDreams himself. He took the stage mightily, excited at the prospect of helping them, and the plan to save the less popular Smashers coming together so well.

"My friends, trust your instincts. Don't feel pressured to be something you're not or write what are not your words. Give us your best by doing your best; even if you want to experiment or be adventurous, stay true to yourself and all the more power to you. Have fun, and let your colors shine and your freak flag fly; after all, the only way anyone's getting saved is if you're doing genuine work! That way we will forget nothing!"

By the time he finished, smiles were on the faces of all, the writers brought to their feet. With those speeches a new vigor had pumped into them, to write, to create something amazing and wow these four people on stage. This was their time to get noticed. This was their time to really do something great. It didn't matter where they were, what they were writing for or who. They could do it.

And inspiration started to flow in waves around the room, ideas seeming to pop up everywhere like a thousand light bulbs. They couldn't wait to start writing, to save these Smashers they loved so dearly.

And, you know, winning wouldn't be so bad either.

With the clapping still rising to the roof, the cries of victory still ringing around the ceiling, MessengerOfDreams smiled back at his fellow judges and beckoned them to the front of the stage. It seemed like their project was a success, and they stood in the spotlight, grinning widely, hoping for the best.

"Best of luck to all!" they shouted in unison, because that's just the way they roll, and exited the stage in the cascade of applause. This was a job well done, and they couldn't wait for the entries to come pouring in. They were gonna save some Smashers.

As they reached the door, they turned around again, after giving each other looks. "Thank you!" they yelled over the diminishing claps, earning a whole lot of smiles. And the lights slowly found their way back on as they left the room, thrilled over the turnout. This was gonna go pretty well.

The four of them fell onto couches in the green room of the building, and MoD took his fedora off with a sigh. Popping open a can of Sprite, Kat looked at them all with a smile and said "I dunno about you, but we've got this!"

"I know!" MoD grinned. "I mean, with the art, and the statements, and the ideas, and the... everything!" He sighed comfortably and declared "You guys are amazing."

Araceli smiled as she brushed her hair out of her face. "Give yourself some credit, boy. You did a lot of the work."

"Ah!" MoD waved a finger at no one in particular. "I'd be up a creek without a paddle for miles around without you guys. We all did a great job! No one discounted!"

Mouse chuckled. "Agreed. A toast?"

MoD kicked open the door to let the featured smashers in. Falco led the way, followed by almost thirty of the other smashers not known as well. Each of them grabbed a can of soda, and MoD tossed one to Araceli and Mouse.

Addressing everyone in the room, MoD lit off a series of clanks and cheers with "To the success of the contest!"

**Okay, just to make it clear! Write any kind of story you want except crackfics, as long as it doesn't feature any of these as the main!**

**Marth, Zelda, Link, Ike, Zelda, Sheik, Roy, Link, Samus, Peach, Mario, Pit, Lucas, Ness, or Sonic.**

**Cheers!**

**Modacelimazing42- MoD, Araceli, MouseMaster and Kattheamazing, all of which contributed work on the form story and everything else.**

**Deviantart: ****htt p:/mo****dacelima**** /**


	2. The First Third Update! ft Dr Mario!

Eggplant Witch let out a large yawn as she got up from the computer, trying to hit her stride. She had already written a couple pages, and was just waiting for that moment where everything clicked and she would start furiously typing, a grin on her face as she realized that she totally had this down. But that moment wasn't right now.

She continued to pace around the living room of her house, mulling over characters, ideas, possible scenes, possible storylines, possible witty lines, hoping that something would click. About two minutes into her worrisome brainstorming, however, a doorbell rang. Instinctively, she dashed to the door and opened it with a smile.

"Hello, how may I..." she let her words drift off into nothingness as she stared back into the gaze of a short, portly man in a suit and tie, a small mustache lining his face.

"Hello," the man greeted her cordially in a slightly European accent. "Am I speaking to Eggplant Witch?"

"You are," she replied tentatively. "And you are?"

"Ah!" he grinned. "I am Dr. Finnegan J. Mario, better known as Dr. Mario! Pleasure to be of service!"

"...you're not wearing a-"

Her confused musings were cut off by an amused laugh. "No, of course I'm not wearing my uniform out on the street! I'm surprised this surprises you!" He sighed as Eggplant turned slightly red, annoyed and embarrassed. He gave a cordial smile and offered "I'm sorry, miss, I meant no impoliteness. What I did mean to do, however, was to give you a short letter, courtesy of MouseMaster42 herself!"

"Thanks," she replied, "but what about?"

"Oh, just routine stuff- roll call for the current contestants, answers to questions and other such updates."

Eggplant raised an eyebrow. "That's good to hear. I had sent in a question."

The doctor grinned. "Then you shall find this very useful."

As he got an envelope out of his suit, Eggplant chuckled, noting "It is quite a Mousey thing to do, go out of the norm and find an alternate means to send her mail out."

"I have no doubt," he grinned as she accepted the letter. "However, I volunteered for this job."

"You did?" Eggplant asked.

"Indeed," he gave a wry smile, a smile that was a bit dark but not menacingly so. "I've come to find that if you truly want something, you must fight for it and work for it."

Eggplant smiled, intrigued by this man's subtle passion. A question crossed her mind and she ventured for an answer. "...I hope you don't mind me asking, sir, but... didn't you exit after Melee?"

"Ah! You're correct," he replied, looking towards the concrete in order to hide his disappointment at the situation. "You see, I was the first victim of the idea of removing smashers due to inpopularity. I was often mixed up with my cousin, the famous Mario. Some even ventured to say I _was _Mario in an alter ego. Everyone gravitated towards the plumber instead of the doctor- a bit of irony there. Myself, Pichu, and the younger Link were let go due to similarities with some of the more popular counterparts." He sighed, but kept a smile steady on his face.

"...that sucks," Eggplant offered.

"Succintly put!" Finn gave a boisterous laugh. "Also, before you ask, Mewtwo and Roy left on their own accord. Mewtwo had never quite liked the idea of the tournament, and Roy had business he had to attend to. In fact, Roy himself is still more popular than half of the smashers in the Brawl establishment!"

He chuckled again, giving Eggplant a kindly smile. "Either way, I believe I've taken enough of your time. You have work to do!"

"Uh... sure, if you insist, Doc," she replied with an amused smile. She took rather kindly to the eccentric doctor with a kind heart.

He gave a short wave and bounded down her walkway, shouting "Farewell, ma'am! And best of luck!" Before Eggplant could respond, he was on his way out of sight, spryly dashing across the sidewalk.

She chuckled, having enjoyed the short, odd visit, and entered her house again. Sitting on her favorite chair, she opened the envelope, pulling out a letter, and began to read.

_How goes it, my contesters!_

_Hey all, can you believe that the wonderful contest is already a third of the way over? You only have a month left to get in your lovely submission for judging. _

_Besides making all of you procrastinators freak out about the deadlines, we're also here to answer a few questions that have been brought up. If one person asked it, odds are several of you have the same question, so we figure by answering them we'll help a bunch of you out, which means nobody breaks the rules, which means nobody has to get their ass-kicking shoes on, and everybody's happy. _

_The first question is thus: Are you allowed to have a character start out as OOC if we want to change him/her/it into a better person throughout the story? _

_And the answer would, of course, be yes. If you're showing a character's progress, they can start off OOC so long as they end up in a better place or back to normal. Working vice versa would potentially be acceptable as well; showing how a character regresses into something bad—but you might want to check with us on that. Basically, we just don't want anything ridiculous or over the top. Some artistic flair for the sake of creating a good story is perfectly acceptable—just try to keep it believable and/or serious._

_The second main question is: Is it alright to have one of the 'forbidden' characters as a second character or a minor character that can be used to learn more about the main character? Can the main characters talk to forbidden characters?_

_Aaand the answer to both of those is also yes. We do, however, have some pretty strict guidelines on what is and isn't allowed. Basically, if you're doing a romance fic, a forbidden character is allowed to be the second character (the one your main guy/gal/thing is in love with), but the story isn't allowed to be mainly about them. It has to be divided at least 50-50. We used this as an example before, but you can't write a fic that's completely about Sheik pining after Luigi with Luigi only popping up for the last paragraph. If you're not writing a romance fanfic, then please keep the forbidden characters as third or fourth most important characters. We're not saying that you can't use them at all, but the whole point of this contest is to write about people we normally don't write about. _

_Those were the two main questions, but if you have any others you can talk to any of the judges and we'll get back to you. That's pretty much it, except for one VERY important thing that needs mentioning:_

_You MUST put "Modacelimazing42" into the title of your fanfic or somewhere in the description, otherwise we have no way of finding you. We should just be able to search Modacelimazing42 in the search engine and come up with all of our entries as well as our own rules and updates and stuff…and so far all that comes up is our stuff. No submissions. If you've already written something, it's an easy fix: just go back and add "Modeacelimazing42" somewhere into your title or description. If you haven't written anything yet, make sure that Modeacelimazing42 is in the title somewhere please! It'll really help us find you (you can't win cool prizes if we don't know you entered)._

_Also, we are glad to have received visible entries from Guessworks, TwilightOkama and When Darkness Rises, and we look forward to seeing many more- after all, we got around 15 people who seemed interested, we hope for the same number of entries._

_With all that said, we should be in good shape. The contest goes through August 17th, so hurry up and get your submissions in! _

_MouseMaster42_

_On behalf of Modacelimazing42_

Eggplant was pleased to see the contents of the letter, knowing that they would provide a great bit of help. She tucked it away in her mail holder, and left her chair, stretching up towards the ceiling, before making her way back to the computer.

"Well," she announced to no one in particular, "back to work."

**A/N Hey, all! MoD here, since this is on my account and all. ;) Thanks to MouseMaster42 for taking a load off my back and helping with the question answering part. I wrote the bit with Eggplant and Finnegan- hope Eggplant doesn't mind me using her honorable likeliness in this part of the contest!**

**Also, since I'm here, thanks to everyone for the great birthday wishes! They mean so much! :D**

**MoD **


	3. Well

**MoD/N: Jesus Christ, Mousey, I don't know what I'd do without you. :P Thanks a milli for the update. **

"Right, well, I think this ties everything up," Kattheamazing said professionally, snapping a rubber band around the contest entries that she had piled in front of her. 

"That's it?" MouseMaster42, ever the noob, asked disbelievingly. "There isn't, like, a special button you have to push or something that signals the end of the contest or something? This seems a bit anticlimactic."

"Yeah." Araceli L nodded. "We should totally have a special button."

"Agreed," Kattheamazing grinned, and then tossed the pile of submissions into the middle of the table where the three judges were sitting. It made a very satisfying 'whump' noise when it landed, and the resulting shock wave made the salt and pepper shakers teeter a little before settling. The judges were meeting in a coffee shop, although none of them had gotten around to actually ordering coffee yet, considering that their leader had mysteriously gone AWOL.

"So these are all the entries that the contesters submitted?" MouseMaster42 asked as she reached out for the stack of papers and started pawing her way through them, looking for a story that a friend of hers had said she was going to try and submit in time.

"Yeah, that should be everything," Araceli L confirmed.

After sorting through the whole stack and not finding the right username, MouseMaster42 unhappily concluded that her friend had missed the deadline and set the stack back down. "So all that's left to do now is judge, right?"

"Exactly. That's the hard part," Kattheamazing explained. "We're all going to have to come to an agreement about the winners."

"By the way, where the heck did MessengerOfDreams get to?" Araceli L sighed. "He said he'd be here."

"Maybe he got lost," MouseMaster42 suggested.

There was an awkward silence as everyone pondered the unlikely likelihood of their fearless leader getting lost in such a small town with only one coffee shop.

And then, out of nowhere, he appeared. The little bell hanging over the coffee shop's door chimed, and there he was; striding purposefully over to the circular table. Araceli L scooted her chair over a little to make room for him.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said breathlessly as he slumped into the chair. "I got tied up with something else."

"It's not a problem," Kattheamazing was quick to say. "We haven't been waiting long. We've collected all of the entries here,"—she tapped at the stack of papers sitting on the table—"so now we have to start judging them. Do you have a system in mind already, or do we—?"

"About that…" MessengerOfDreams said slowly. "We're going to need to extend the deadline."

"Seriously?"

"Why?"

"What happened?"

MessengerOfDreams leaned back in his chair, holding up his hands as if to ward off all of the questions. "Not all at once! It's not that big of a deal, we're only extending it a week."

"A week? A week from today?" Araceli L clarified, putting her elbows onto the table so that she could lean on them.

"Yeah," MessengerOfDreams said distantly. All of a sudden he stood up, jingling the change in his pocket. "I really need coffee. Anybody else want some?"

Araceli L and Kattheamazing both nodded happily, and MouseMaster42 said that she was going to get a smoothie.

By the time everyone had settled down again there was a second silence broken only by the sounds of four people happily sipping their beverages.

When MessengerOfDreams was halfway through his cup, he paused to speak. "Okay, long story short: I'm swamped with stuff, so we're extending the contest a week so free up schedules."

"That actually works out great," MouseMaster42 enthused, stirring her smoothie with the straw. "Because I'm going to be offline this next week, so I wouldn't be around to judge right away anyway."

"Not to mention that there are obviously a few floaters out there." Araceli L bobbed her head in what was either agreement or the beginnings of a caffeine buzz—it was hard to tell. "People who didn't get their stories in on time or whatever; this'll give them an extra week to get their act together."

"Considering that we didn't give a really clear announcement on the deadline other than our halfway update, this is probably a good idea," Kattheamazing rationalized, and then took a sip from her insulated mug.

"Great," MessengerOfDreams sighed, sounding relieved. "I'm glad it's not a problem. So we'll officially have the contest end on** August 28th**. Does that work for everybody?"

His words were met with various nods and noises of agreement.

"Alright, excellent. I'll see you all in a week then." MessengerOfDreams smiled and stood up from the table, taking his coffee mug with him. "Sorry to leave right away, but I'm seriously swamped."

"No problem," the other three judges chorused in unison.

MessengerOfDreams lifted his hand over his shoulder as he walked towards the door in a sort of hurried wave. "Later."

While MouseMaster42 pulled out her laptop to start badgering her friend to get her submission in, Araceli L and Kattheamazing regarded each other over the rubber-banded pile of submissions.

"I guess it's not all tied up after all," Kattheamazing sighed as she pulled the band off and fiddled with it between her fingers for a few moments before letting it plop down onto the table.

"It will be in a week," Araceli L mused. All of a sudden she blinked, and then snatched up the rubber band from the table and launched it at MouseMaster42's face.

"Oi! What the heck?" MouseMaster42 yelped, pausing from her typing to shoot the rubber band back across the table. Kattheamazing snagged it out of the air before the two other authors could start WWIII in the back of a coffee shop.

"We forgot to ask about the special button!" Araceli L burst out.

"Aw! We did!" MouseMaster42 pouted.

Kattheamazing shrugged nonchalantly, slipping the rubber band around her wrist. "We still have a week. Lots of things can happen in a week."

**MoD/N- So, yeah, give us another week to get our heads straight. And… okay, honestly, I don't know what the secret button is. Mouse? **

**And you're welcome Guess and Fox.**

**MoD**


	4. End Of Submissions and A Jimbo tribute!

**A/N Guess who's late again? ME! :D**

The fedora-sporting teenager dashed through the street intently. Leaping over open manholes, dashing past delivery men handtrucking oranges to a store, and running through a busy street dodging every car, people looked in awe as he performed astonishing parkour he'd never be able to perform in real life on account of him being an uncoordinated buffoon. But, hey, it's the internet, so here he's an attractive athlete who is awesome. Also in this world when they find out he's running to announce things for a fanfiction contest, people actually care and cheer him on, cause it's the internet. People care about that stuff.

The door burst open and the audience swiveled their heads as he stood there, bent over with heavy breath. No one here applauded, cause in here everyone's gotta be in character and they'd be annoyed that this guy's two days late and that the author is blatantly ripping off Jimbo.

Awkwardly, the man made his way through the aisles until he was up on the stage he was on prior to this while announcing the contest's beginning. He slumped against the podium, sweat trickling down his face as he wondered why he was running when he knew once he got in here he'd be in character and therefore entirely wimpy. He also kept wondering why the author was still in Jimbo mode.

One of the three girls waiting already walked up to him, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Chill. You're not that late."

"Only... what, two days?"

"It's fanfiction, dude, people randomly warp here when the announcement starts."

"...the author's really gotta stop with the Jimbo."

"Hey, he's departing, so just say it's a tribute and everyone'll love you."

"Ah, okay, thanks, Ace." He chuckled and turned to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am MessengerOfDreams with the conclusion of the entry round of the Contest for Those We've Left Behind! This will also be in the theme of a Stupendous Jimbo tribute, which I totally didn't think of at this very moment!"

"Ahem."

"Nor did Ace!"

She nodded.

"Anyway, so I don't totally leave them out of this chapter and make everyone think I'm some sort of anti feminist-"

"Instead of a fatalist?"

"I'm going to let MouseMaster and Kattheamazing start announcing the contest entries that have been submitted to the contest!"

The two girls THAT HE DID NOT FORGET ABOUT walked up to the stage. Mouse was first to pick up the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored to have gotten so many entries on our first contest! All... seven of you!"

Kattheamazing whispered in her ear.

"Nine?" Mouse replied out loud. "Where are the other two?"

More whispering.

"Oh, they didn't put Modacelimazing42 in the description?"

More whispering.

"Wait, why are you whispering? None of this is secret!"

More whispering.

"Yeah, I know it looks cool, but it's incredibly inconvenient!"

More whispering.

"Hey, I'm not questioning the logic of fanfiction and good storytelling, it's just... never mind." Mouse turned back to the crowd and continued.

"In order to mark this occasion, we have invited the characters you have used to help announce the entries themselves as a thank you!"

"No we haven't!" Kat shouted in surprise, and Mouse sighed, wishing that this time Kat had actually bothered to whistle.

"This is fanfiction logic. The characters will randomly pop out now that I've announced it."

Suddenly about a dozen different figures appeared on the stage.

"See?" Mouse grinned smugly.

"Impressive," Kat admitted.

"When do I get a part in this chapter?" Ace whispered to MoD. MoD turned white, fervently fitting in a place for his fellow author in his mind.

"Anyway! Our first entry is the first one submitted! From the ingenuous mind of TwilightOkami, we have _A Second Chance At Adventure, _featuring **Wolf and Diddy Kong! **Why don't you two come up and say your bit?"

"Do I have to?" Wolf smirked.

"Come on man, I bolded your name, that's the least you can do."

Wolf sighed and made his way onto the stage. Looking Twilight straight in the eyes, he made his compassionate, moving speech.

"Thanks."

Since the above was clearly sarcasm, Twilight blinked and sighed as Wolf tossed the microphone on the ground, stormed to his seat, satisfied at having annoyed the hand that wrote him. Diddy's reaction was a bit more enthusiastic as he grabbed the microphone off the ground.

"Oh my god thank you so much for writing about me, it's so awesome! I'm, like, never in these stories and to be in one... oh my gosh, it's so dang awesome! Thank you thank you thank you thank you than-"

"Thank you, Diddy Kong," Mouse took the microphone and spoke over the enthusiastic monkey. "Thank you too, Twilight, for entering!" Twilight, alas, didn't hear her because she was randomly telling the person next to her how much she wanted to keep Diddy Kong.

Kat took the microphone. "Our next entry is called _Who I Am Hates Who I've Been, _by the newcomer RedhazeKJ! This one stars both of the **Kongs, Diddy and Donk-"**

Her sentence was interrupted by the enthusiastic young monkey as he barreled into her and took the mic. Haha, get it? Barreled? Cause he has barrel rockets and jumps out of barrels?... Get it?

"Thank you thank you thank you so much RedHaze! It's so awesome cause I'm in two stories! Isn't that great Donkey? Isn't that great?"

Donkey took the microphone to halt the trainwreck that was his nephew's speech. "Indeed it is, Diddy. Thanks a lot, Red. It's sure nice to be in one of those stories. You're a pretty cool gal, ya know that?"

"Wait, Donkey, how d'ya know she's a girl?" Diddy asked.

Blanching a bit, Donkey stammered "It... says so on her profile!"

Indeed, Redhaze had a sign just above her reading "I'm a girl." Ace looked up to see one of those just above her as well. She raised an eyebrow and said "I really can't wait until we get out of the physics defying of fanfiction."

The two Kongs made their way off the stage, allowing Mouse to take the stage. "Coming up next is a full four chapter entry from one of the section's most prolific writers and frequent contester," she said contester on purpose because it's an in joke between all of the judges now. Anyway...

"Foxpilot! He has submitted an entry called _Wanted: Aura _which features Lucario and Captain Falcon!"

"Psst... you forgot the bold."

"Thank you, Kat. **Lucario and Captain Falcon!"**

Captain Falcon grinned as he made his way to the microphone. "Foxpilot, man, thanks so much for letting me in on this shindig! It's nice not to be a total idiot this time-"

A woman no one knew walked up to Falcon and whispered in his ear. Falcon's eyes widened as he shouted "What kind of ointment?"

Interrupting the surprised captain, Lucario took the mic. "It is an honor to be the star of an accomplished writer's story. Thank you." Saying nothing more, he left.

Falcon was still surprised, yelling "I still can't believed he had me using some embarrassing kind of _ointment for what is presumably an unspeakable part of my body_!"

He blinked and slapped his forehead as he realized that everyone could hear him, and all the smashers were now laughing at him. He tried fervently to get them to quiet as the audience started to gasp, laugh and roll their eyes at the commotion. Foxpliot just smiled a bit, unfazed as he had pretty much all these guys in his author's notes at least three times.

Ace cut through the crowd. "Anyway," she shouted, loudly to subtly tell the other smashers to shut their mouths, "our next entry is from a diehard Mario fan writing in the Smash Section, Princess DiMimi! With **Fox McCloud and StarFox co-star Krystal, **we have _Krystalline Eyes!" _

As both Fox and Krystal took the stage, MoD sighed because he worried that now he had to put this fanfiction under crossover. The two vulpine bipedals took the microphone, Fox speaking first.

"It is a great honor to be in one of the contest's stories," Fox started.

"I didn't even think I was going to be in one!" Krystal added.

"Indeed. Thanks so much, Princess DiMimi. I look forward to seeing the results."

"Ta!"

And just like that, the two exited the main stage and took their place next to the other smashers. MoD took the mic, saying "Wow, that was so... antic-free! Wow! Anyway, our next entry. Acclaimed reviewer and fellow contest proprietor Souldin has written the next story... wait, it's not on the list."

With a sigh, MoD pointed at Souldin, muttering "Click." Instantly a list of his stories popped out from above his head. MoD went through the list, and announced "Here we are! _An Eternity To Remember, _featuring **Ganondorf and R.O.B.!"**

As MoD moved out of the way for the smashers, he pointed at the X near Souldin's list of stories and said "Click." The list went away.

The heavyset Gerudo and the Robotic Operating Buddy took the stage. ROB was first to speak, and yes, that is the same R.O.B. As before, the author is just too lazy to use periods.

"Yo, homie. That shiznit was real phat, ya dig?" ROB said, using stereotypical slang in his robotic voice, cause, hey, it's funny. "Ya gotta keep pumpin' out those pimpin' beats cause that shiznizzle was the real dizzle, ya hear, homeboy?"

Ganon took the microphone. "Hoho, Souldin. How great it is to be in this story in full glory, ya old rascal! Only helps my god complex further! Thanks, bro!"

Everyone raised their eyebrow at Ganon's OOCness.

"Sorry," he explained. "Just got out of _Paradigms." _He cleared his throat, shouting "You dare bring me into your story? _You must die!" _

MoD shoved the angry Gerudo to the ground, sedating him. No one looked at him funny cause, hey, it's fanfiction, and he can do that here. ROB walked back to the Smashers, saying "Lame."

Ace went next. "I've gotta hurry cause the author's almost out of time. Our next story is a long entry by Sogo, it's called _Unnoticed, _and it stars **Luigi! **Take the floor, Luigi!"

At this point the author sighed because even though he doesn't have much time, he can't do Luigi out of character because he's one of the biggest Luigi writers in the section and would feel like a tool if he made him OOC. He sighed again and continued with the story.

"Well, my friends, it's a great honor," Luigi smiled. "It's refreshing to be written by someone who's not MessengerOfDreams!"

"Hey!" MoD shouted, neither of them aware of the irony.

"I'm just kidding. But it's nice to branch out a bit, y'know? So thanks, Sogo!"

Sogo nodded with a smile, and Kattheamazing took the stage.

"Next, we have a story by AvidAkiraReader, a pretty well known writer here, called **Shotgun Kiss, **again starring _Wolf!"_

Mouse whispered in her ear.

"Well, gosh! Just tell me next time, ya don't have to whisper!" Unaware of Mouse's facepalming, she proceeded to fix the bold/italic switch above, not that anyone cared.

"Wolf, why don't you tell AvidAkiraReader what you think of her story!" Mouse said with a cheery grin!

"She can go **insert beeping noise here** off." he hissed.

Mouse turned white as a ghost and with a more artificial cheer, declared "He says thank you very much!"

Since the author pretty much says hell with the order, he randomly picked Ace to announce the next story. "Our next story is unfortunately complete but can still be considered an entry. By critically acclaimed author Guessworks is the AU fic, _Degenerates, _starring humanized versions of **Meta Knight and Jigglypuff!"**

The two puffballs floated to the stage. Jiggly was first to speak, and she poured her heart out in a beautiful, heartfelt speech that shook the ages. Unfortunately, no one can understand Jigglypuff so it goes over their heads.

When she finished, Meta spoke. "Thank you, Lady Guessworks. May your pencil stay sharp." Even though technically no one uses a pencil while writing fanfiction since it's on the internet, Guessworks was genuinely touched by the statement and smiled with a slight wave.

MoD was next. "Finally, with our last entry we have **A Braver Captain, **starring- scuse me, _A Braver Captain _starring **Olimar and Ganondorf!"**

Ganondorf still lay unconscious on the ground, and MoD says "I'm sure he's very grateful. Anyway, Olimar!"

Olimar walked across the room. However, the guy's three inches tall and therefore it took him a few minutes to get to the microphone. Think of the snail from Spongebob who lit the official torch for the Snail Race.

However, when he got to the microphone, a new challenge presented himself, and that was that the microphone was thirty times bigger than him or something like that, I don't know, I don't wanna do the math. He started to climb up the pole. Slowly, everyone watched him for five minutes as he climbed up the pole, inch by inch. Finally, he got up to the microphone's speaking part, but before he could say anything, he fell off and down to the ground. Inexplicably surviving and unfazed, he began the trip again.

MoD's eye twitched and he quickly spoke "He's very grateful! Anyway-"

A small voice spoke. "Yes, but I had a spee-"

"Anyway, I think that'll do it! The jud-"

"Wait, you forgot me!" Someone shouted.

"Oh... well, who are you?"

"Bo Dynamite, sir."

"Well, get the *insert beeping noise here* out of here, Bo Dynamite!"

It was presumed that Bo Dynamite randomly disappeared from the story and MoD continued.

"As I was saying, the judging will start now, and we can get on with our lives! Thank you all for entering and we will see you when the results are announced!"

Slowly, the authors and authoresses walked out of the hall, and the smashers suddenly disappeared as right now they were useless to the author of this contest. MoD sighed as he glanced at the other authors with a grateful smile.

"We killed it," he laughed, unbelieving.

"We sure did!" Mouse laughed.

"Totally," Ace grinned coolly.

"Killed it like a sword to a Skulltula! Bloody and brilliant!" Kat declared.

Everyone blinked at the... interesting metaphor. MoD laughed one more time before, exhausted, he fell on the floor.

"Truck."

**A/N You had a good run, Jimbo! :D Now it's just a totally slow crawl. I'd make some joke about your contest but I figure I'd be more polite than that, and if I did, I'd have to include Foxpilot! Let's hope I was somehow funny!**

**Anyway, thanks to you all for your participation! The announcement and prize giving out will probably be out in a month or two, cause we're hardworking like that! And generally awesome!**

**Love ya guys!**

**MoD **

**P.S. I know none of you will ever notice it, but there's a reference to another comic SSB author in there!**


	5. The Results: It's About Damn Time

**A/N Before I begin I KNOW IT'S BEEN 11 MONTHS. I know I know I know I know we know we know we know we know. This was certainly not as easy as it sounded, but we pulled through. Hope you're still around, everyone. :P**

He smiled sadly, his hand resting against his forehead and his fingers under his fedora. He reached around in such an odd place, looking for something under his hat and smiling wider when he found it. A key. Perfect. He pulled it out and, looking at the back door of the auditorium, opened the door into the emptiness that awaited him.

There were a large number of seats, all familiar yet all empty. The stage stood in front of him, proud and waiting for a use. A pulpit and a microphone sat atop even that, and that was what he walked towards.

He removed his green side pack from his person, plopping it on the wooden stage. He dug out a small stack of papers with some very important information and prepared to set it in the pulpit when he saw that there was already some in there. Curious, he set his current papers down and grabbed the old ones, wiping a thin sheen of dust off of them before reading the information.

He swallowed tightly as he did, realizing how much time it had been.

_Story Name: A Braver Captain_

_Author: TheObserver00_

_Summary:_ _Olimar...not many people know him, at least not much. Ganondorf is about to discover the courage and life of Olimar._

_Characters: Ganondorf and Olimar_

_Story Name: Wanted: Aura_

_Author: Foxpilot_

_Summary: Four feet, zero inches. Weight: 119 lbs. Considered armed and dangerous. Status: Missing; presumed to be aided by allies._

_Characters: Lucario and Captain Falcon _

_Story Name: Degenerates_

_Author: Guessworks_

_Summary: _ _Everything starts when Meta Knight witnesses a murder. Soon after, the quiet man finds himself entangled in a plot that threatens to collapse his entire world… (Alt. Universe, Unfinished)_

_Characters: Meta Knight and Jigglypuff_

And on and on the list went, listing the other contestants. The headline was a bit jarring to him. "_Full List of entrants for The Contest For Those Left Behind- August 30, 2011."_

11 months since the contest submission ended. He shuddered a little bit, out of surprise, fear and just a bit of amusement. He was grateful that at the very least the developers of SSB4 were slower then he and his crew were.

He took those papers down and set the more recent, important ones where the old ones were. It was about fifteen moments before the show was to begin, and the winner was to be announced. He had a feeling that the room was going to be at least mildly crowded, and at the very least the audience would be attentive. The ten front row seats were reserved with the names of the operators of the contest (including himself) that he believed did well despite the fact that they were severely late and for the top six entrants, who would be announced prior to the unveiling of the winners and would need a special place to sit.

He glanced at his watch anxiously, wondering where the hec k the other judges had gotten to. They were supposed to be here helping him set up. He had been about ten minutes late, so why was he the first one there?

As he pondered that paradox, he heard a commotion from the door, and a female voice exclaim, "It's unlocked, idiot!" followed by a quiet, embarassed, "Oh."

"Speak of the devil," he commented as the three girls leapt through the back door, staggering comically to a halt in the middle of the stage and apologizing all at once for their lateness. "Where were you?"

"Mousey got her driver's liscense last week," Kattheamazing explained breathlessly with a grin. "You missed a heck of a ride."

"Oh come on," MouseMaster42 grumbled, shifting her weight awkwardly from one leg to the other and tucking the car keys back into her pocket. "We didn't crash or anything."

"Yeah, we're just half an hour late," Kat teased. Araceli L had remained silent up until this point, apparently shocked by her close brush with death, but now she unfroze and bounded over to MessengerOfDreams' side, asking what the plan for the day was.

"We're winging it," he said cheerfully, walking over to the main doors and pulling them open in a grand gesture. The waiting crowd surged inside en masse, only a select few having actually participated in the contest. Those twelve were quickly directed to seats near the front row, although the top six next to the judges were kept clear. They wanted to keep the suspense up as long as possible.

There was Twilight Okami—the author of 'A Second Chance for Adventure,' sitting next to Guessworks. The two of them seemed to be getting along alright. MouseMaster42's friend Sogo—author of the Luigi-starring entrant 'Unnoticed—exchanged a few words with her neighbor before sitting down anxiously at the end of a row and pulling out a sketchbook to doodle idly in, leaving MouseMaster42 to go seat somebody else.

Audhulma Ivaldi, who had chosen to write about Mewtwo, walked in just behind When Darkness Rises—author of the only Pichu-featuring story—and they sat next to one another, although they didn't start a conversation. AvidAkiraReader and PrincessDiMimi, next to them, ended up having lots to talk about as they had both written about neglected Star Fox characters. The Observer 00 and Souldin also were able to strike up a conversation in a similar fashion: their entries had both featured Ganondorf.

Among the actual contestants were a handful of other eager fanfiction writers, most of whom were familiar with at least one of the judges and wnted to check out the event. As well as the fans, there was a small clump of smug-looking older writers in the back of the auditorium who were involved in the community and looked more than a little miffed at the time it had taken for the contest to get wrapped up. The judges were doing a marvelous job of ignoring them, Araceli L commenting to MessengerOfDreams at one point "Haters gonna hate."

Within a few minutes, almost everybody had settled, even the critiques in the back. Nearly every chair was filled, although two in the front had been left open for RedhazeKJ and Cherry-Sama, both of whom were nearly late and scampered in at the last minute.

"Nah, it's okay," MouseMaster42 commented lightly as they apologized. "Three of the four of us got here late too."

"Actually, I was late too," MessengerOfDreams laughed, looking up from where he was talking with Foxpilot—the final entrant. "So, technically, we were all late. I was just less so than you guys."

"I was driving the speed limit, man. Excuse me for being a law-abiding citizen."

"Psh, nobody follows the speed limit."

"Weren't you the one who trespassed into your cousin's senile neighbor's yard this summer?" Sogo questioned innocently.

"Hush, you," MouseMaster42 rebuked as she followed Kattheamazing up to their seats in the front.

Araceli L nudged MessengerOfDreams pointedly, and he broke off his conversation with Foxpilot to grimace good-naturedly and jog up to his chair, dropping into it exhaustedly and tipping his hat away from his face.

"Papers are already up there," he told MouseMaster42, who was doing the introduction. She nodded nervously and skipped up to the podium, taking a minute to fiddle with the microphone and wipe her palms against her Batman T-shirt.

"Hey," she said into the microphone. "We're starting now, if you could all quiet down." A few people looked up at her imploringly, but the rest continued talking as if she hadn't said anything.

With a sigh, Araceli L picked herself up from the seat, stalked across the stage and thrust the microphone in front of one of the speakers, sending a wave of feedback screeching across the auditorium.

"Here you go," she smirked when everybody had stopped screaming, passing the microphone back to MouseMaster42, who grinned as Araceli L dropped back into her seat, looking extremely self-satsfied.

"We're getting started," she tried again. "If I could have your attention…?"

Everybody stopped talking this time.

"Right, that worked." She tossed her bangs out of her face and resumed her intro as if she had never been interrupted. "It seems like we were just here, doesn't it?" she asked introspectively. "I mean—I know this is way overdue, but it doesn't feel like an entire year, does it? I know that it seems like we forgot about this thing, but let me assure you that we were actually talking about it—there were just complcations. It doesn't really matter: time flies, things come up. A lot of things can happen in a year. But what hasn't changed is the results of the contest and the glorious prizes associated therewith. Do you still want to know who won them?"

A few mumbles of agreement. Definitly not satisfactory.

"Oh come on!" she cried, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. "Can we get some enthusiasm? I know it's been forever but jeez! That was pathetic! Do you want to know who won The Contest For Those We Left Behind?"

A definitive, answering roar of 'yes!'

"Good," she said smugly. "I'm going to hand it over to Kattheamazing, who's got a few words for you guys and is going to narrow the field down from twelves to six. Take it away….And welcome back, everybody!"

She passed the microphone off to the third girl, who had been hovering at the edge of the platform and took to the stage.

One look at the audience, and she realised that the fifty-two page speech she had prepared for the occasion might not be the best idea. She tucked it back into her pocket, swallowing anxiously at the piercing stares of the contest entrants. These people wanted results, and they wanted them now.

"I'll just cut to the chase, shall I?" she murmured.

A collective shout of 'YES!' arose from the crowd.

"Well, first, on behalf of all of the judges, I'd like to thank you all for entering our contest. You've gripped us, you've made us laugh, you've even made us cry…"

"I thought we clarified this," Araceli L cut in, looking stormy. "I was not crying because of the contest entries. I was crying in the car on the way here because I thought I was going to DIE!"

MouseMaster42 shrunk back a little as Araceli cast an irked look in her direction.

"Details, details," Kattheamazing said, already beginning to feel the prickle of the impatient stares from the audience. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is…"

"Every one of your entries was brilliant," Messenger of Dreams said, stepping into the spotlight alongside her. "As the host of the contest, the individuality of each of your stories really blew me away. I'm honored that so many of you entered, and even more honored by the amount of effort each and every one of you spent on your work. Thank you, one and all, for being here tonight!"

Katheamazing gave him a nod of appreciation, grateful for the summarisation as she turned back to address the audience. "Now, ladies and gents, without delay, let's introduce our list of the top six entries! At sixth, we have…"

"Foxpilot's _Wanted: Aura_!" Araceli L announced.

"I was going to build up to that! Thanks for killing the suspense!" Kattheamazing snapped.

"Like we haven't given enough of that?" MoD cracked, easily in shock at the very idea.

"If you'd delayed any longer I think the audience would have climbed up here and clawed the results out of your hands. You should be thanking her!" MouseMaster42 said, grinning. "Besides, it's not like people didn't see that coming. Foxpilot's practically a FanFiction legend. He was inevitably going to place somewhere."

MessengerOf Dreams nodded. "True, and it was a great story, as we all expected it would be. A quirky, unique premise, a smooth, flowing narrative, a gripping plot and those obscure, yet hilarious jokes that somehow manage to find themselves tangled up in the middle of it all. Classic FP material."

MouseMaster42 elaborated. "This story, featuring Lucario and Captain Falcon as its protagonists, sees the Aura Pokemon on the run for crimes he didn't commit, with Captain Falcon at his side, attempting to help him evade capture. But this story didn't just place 6th for its creativity- we also loved the character development, especially Captain Falcon's, and the lively dynamic between both characters. All in all, a well-written, high-standard piece with the usual Foxpilot flair. We commend FP for bringing two characters into the spotlight who so rarely get their turn to shine, and managing to make them relatable, fascinating and endearing all at the same time. A highly recommended read, folks. "

Somewhere in the crowd, Foxpilot smiled lightly. Perhaps his ambitions had been higher, but if his successes in previous contests were any indication, the competition in this one had to be ferocious.

"Now, on the the story that placed fifth," Araceli began. "That would be…_Assist Trophy _by When Darkness Rises!"

"It was a short piece, but that's why we loved it," MessengerOfDreams explained. "Its length reflects the sad brievity of the life of an assist trophy- Pichu's, to be exact. Now Pichu isn't an assist trophy in Brawl, having been dropped in Melee, but that's part of the greatness of it. Every sentence counts in this story, giving it a hard-hitting, emotional edge which really forces the reader's attention. In terms of character exploration, it's a first rate, especially for its length. Our commendations to When Darkness Rises for saying so much in so few words, and exploring the nature of a character who so often goes unnoticed in Pikachu's shadow."

A shower of applause followed up MessengerOfDream's words, especially loud from those authors in the audience who had read When Darkness Rises' contest entry. Darkness herself beamed, noticing that the speech MoD had made in her honor was nearly half the length of her own entry.

"Now, without further ado, the story that placed fourth…" Kattheamazing said.

"Wait a moment… give me the list a sec, will ya?" MessengerOfDreams cut in, reaching over to prise it from her protective grasp.

"No- my list!" she grumbled, before reluctantly allowing it to change hands.

"You forgot who was fourth? I thought you were supposed to be the contest host!" Araceli said, nudging him playfully in the ribs.

"To be fair, I'm kinda fuzzy on this one too," said MouseMaster42, leaning over to glimpse the list herself. "There was some kind of debate over this, wasn't there?"

"Yeah. Something about an unfinished piece…" Kattheamazing said, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

MouseMaster42 broke a grin, clicking her fingers. "Aha, that was Guessworks, right?"

"Yep," said MessengerOfDreams. "In fourth, we have Guessworks' _Degenerates_."

"Even though it didn't make the entry deadline-" Katheamazing began.

Somewhere in the audience, there arose a loud cough. One which sounded uncannily like the word 'hypocrites.' Araceli L discreetly threw a spontaneous hard-baked cookie in the direction of said cough. From the stage came another cough, a male one that sounded debatably like 'kssmyazz.'

"We still thought it was amazing," MouseMaster42 continued, trying not to appear fazed by the fact that someone in the audience was now complaining about that frickin crazy woman throwing cookies. "We think it may have climbed even higher in the ranks had it been completed, so congrats to Guessworks, who gave us an AU engaging enough to make us want to read more."

"No kidding on that point," Katheamazing said. "All of us were talking about how awesome it was after we'd read it. It's an epic thriller, set from the persepective of Meta Knight after he witnesses a murder in the dead of night. And I know that makes it sound cheesy, but believe me, it isn't. It puts characters you thought you knew in a totally new light while keeping them believable. The writing style is wonderful and the dialogue snappy. It's all we'd expect from Guessworks and more. You had each and every one of the judges hooked, Guessworks."

"Which is why we curse you for not finishing!" MessengerOf Dreams cried, throwing an accusing point in the direction of the author. Poor Guessworks could do little else but shrink back fearfully in her seat.

"I wanted to, believe me…but I was so busy…" she said.

"Excuses, excuses!" Araceli muttered, tapping her foot against the stage.

The 'hypocrite' cough arose once more from the audience. This time MouseMaster42 took the liberty of selecting a particularly solid internet cookie to hurl at the offender, if only to save the judges' reputation.

"Don't worry about it Guessworks, we love you really," Kattheamazing said assuringly. "In fact, we love you so much, you get a special little prize, courtesy of being not-quite-third."

"Behold, the not-quite-third prize!" Messenger of Dreams announced, reaching once again beneath his hat to reveal, gleaming, the offering that MoD had devised at the idea of the four of them. It was an eight-by-ten photo mockup of what seemed to be a cover for the entrant itself, _Degenerates._

"So! This is to motivate you to keep writing, Guessworks. It's awesome because now, the site accepts book covers, which it totally didn't last…" he hesitated "when this contest started. So, keep writing!"

Guessworks smiled, walking up to retrieve her picture and then gawk over it. MoD grinned, glad to have another happy customer for his artwork.

Katheamazing picked up again. "And now that we've expressed our gratitude and love for the first three of the top six entries, we'll hand the results back to MessengerOfDreams, our most treasured and beloved contest host, to announce the top three winning entries, which shall receive…wait for it…actual prizes!"

There was a collective gasp from the audience.

MouseMaster42 smiled. "Take it away, MoD!"

MoD stepped up to take the microphone, grinning widely. "Well hello, denizens of FanFiction. So, this is where we find out the big dogs of the contest. I've already kept you waiting for eleven months, so I'll cut to the chase. In third plce is the very unusual _2100ft by Cherry-Sama, _starring- by god, you'll never believe this- the Sandbag!"

There was a dead millisecond of silence as the crowd realized the genius of it all and gave reactions varying between congratulatory applause and laughter. Cherry-sama was one of those laughing, although MoD had a feeling it was probably out of embarrassment and surprise.

"Cherry-Sama, I must admit, beat me at my own game," MoD admitted, not at all sheepish. "In a contest for those left behind, she used someone _we _at the contest left behind- the Sandbag." People started jeering him. "Yeah, yeah, go on; I deserve it, she beat me." He let it ride itself out for a moment before continuing "but, see, that's part of the brilliance. Add to that a snappy point of view with plenty of humor, both subtle and over the top _and gratutiously revolving around bag puns, _and you have a character piece not quite like any other. It's always great to see a serious message balanced with a light and hopeful point of view, and that's what made Cherry's story grow on me. I'm more than happy to see that she snagged third place!"

The audience cheered and applauded again. Cherry just grinned.

"Now as for your prize," MoD continued. "You will receive a custom-made certificate celebrating your victory via DeviantArt as soon as circumstances allow! I've a smorgasboard of Brawl snapshots used for art pieces and I'll-" he heard more laughter. "Yes, yes, weird hobby, I _know," _he groaned, not amused. "But yes, you will receive custom artwork with bragging rights about your victory and just how great your story was!"

One last round of applause sounded off before MoD rasied his hand to calm the storm and continue. It wasn't very effective. MoD glanced towards Kat, hoping that she'd have another crackfic way of calming the crowd down. She gave him a cocky grin and stomped on a button in the floor. Immediately, an outpouring of confetti cascaded from a trap door in the ceiling on the right side. It covered the entire room, jarring everyone into a confused mess, although eventually everyone figured out, well of course, who else could possibly be crazy enough to rig a confetti trap in the ceiling.

MoD joined the crowd in looking at her, mouth agape. She just crossed her arms and gave a smirk. "I'm about a mile and a half ahead of you whippersnappers," was all she said. He just rolled his eyes and turned around. Kat could still see that the corner of his mouth was upturned in a smile.

"Anyway, I hope you are all paying attention, because we have two more people to praise! And I'll get right to it, too, as long as you people behave better than Kat over here."

"Should be easy!" someone cried out.

"Mm, good call, you're right," MoD replied. "Well just behave, alright?"

He took a big, long breath. "Anyway, second place with her story _Who I Am Hates Who I've Been, _let's give it up for a novice… at the time… writer, _RedHazeKJ_!"

Thankfully, they did indeed give it up for RedHaze, who seemed beyond words, just laughing with wide eyes as the applause and cheers rang through the room. They quieted down enough to let MoD speak again.

"This well-written and poignant piece is written in the style of an interview, with the remorseful interviewee being Donkey Kong who gives a raw interview of his addiction to fame that resulted of his time within the Smash Brothers tournament, and how it changed him. Donkey Kong is among the rarest of famous Nintendo characters to get a spotlight, so to have him written so well with little to no pieces to use as a reference is a strong feat, if I may say so myself. The points are powerful and written with an even hand to keep it from sounding preachy. Overall, it embodies exactly what this contest is about; shedding a spotlight on the characters that get little, even if what you see is far from perfect."

Applause ensued again for another quick moment.

"As for your prize, RedHazeKJ," he continued, "you will also get a customized certificate declaring your second place victory, but you also have the option of exchanging it for a custom book cover for the Fanfiction document. In addition, you will receive a giftfic oneshot from with the characters of your choice, forgotten or mainstream. You can choose a writer, but I can't guarantee they'll be able to work on it due to life and whatnot. I'll promise you this, though; if no one else can, I will."

He smiled, welcoming another long burst of applause for the silver medalist, who looked very elated herself. When it calmed, he looked over the audience, feeling his own heart hammer for the big moment, wondering how he was going to execute it. This was the big moment for him as well; despite such a long wait this contest was his baby and maybe, just maybe, he had a small part in all the wonderful pieces that came out of it.

He grinned.

"Ah, hell with it." He looked straight at a black-haired gentlemen in the front row, dressed in a nice suit that was a definite change from the casual looks of most of the audience. "Souldin, get the hell up here. Surely you had to know you were the winner."

Souldin lit up with a smile. He didn't look shocked, but he looked presently and kept his composure as he walked up onto the stage with MoD.

"Ladies and gentlemen, _The Official Winner of The Contest For Those We've Left Behind, Souldin! With his absolutely fantastic piece, __An Eternity to Remember!__"_

The audience brought forth its largest round of cheerful applause. Suddenly, another burst of confetti fell from the ceiling, concentrating on the well-dressed winner and the fedoraed host. He seemed perfectly unfazed, albeit quite amused, while MoD looked as though he was about to drop his heart through his knees. He was grinning widely, though.

He turned over to Kat slowly. "Just how many of those do you have around here?"

"Thirty-seven," she replied without missing a beat. "Don't worry, though, I'll stop here."

MoD didn't even bother replying. He turned towards the mic, brushing confetti out of the way. "I was absolutely mesmerized by Souldin's piece every time I read it. While Souldin is perhaps the most well-known reviewer of the section, his writing skills haven't taken the spotlight it deserves. This piece was written with balanced, elegant dialogue, vivid descriptions and ideas, and a very wise take on immortality. The story itself follows _Ganondorf and R.O.B. _who are alive hundreds of years past the lifespan of almost everyone else in the Nintendo universe; Ganon through the triforce, R.O.B. through… well, being a robot. Despite the two being on horrid terms from the last time they saw each other, they find company in each other as they reflect on the bittersweet memories and the way they live now. There are many wise words and powerful messages here delivered through the subtle pathos that is a common element in Souldin's writing, and overall it is, to be frank, one of my favorite short stories on the site. Which reminds me; thank God that I finally get to do this at long last."

MoD turned towards Souldin and pointed above his head. To everyone's muted surprise, a menu floated in the air as if it was a computer screen. MoD browsed through the options until he found what he wanted. At last, he said "there! Favorited! And it's well deserved. I actually already have your cover because it was pretty evident to see that this piece was going to take the top spot from about the halfway point of deliberations."

Another brief round of applause took place before MoD continued, "and of course, your prizes. A pretty sweet package, too. Of course, there's the cover that I will send to you as soon as I can. For now, here's the mockup." He gave Souldin an eight-by-ten photo of the cover, and Souldin gave it an impressed look. "In addition, there's the certificate to be made celebrating your victory for you to do whatever with. To round it out, you also will receive an alternate ending for your story written by myself, with your permission of course since I know messing with someone else's story is risky work. Finally, you will receive a oneshot prizefic with the characters of your choice. There's also the chance to turn that prizefic into a collaboration with any author that you can get a hold of; things have changed so much I don't know who's active and who's not. Either way, I'll be around to write."

Once again, he turned to the crowd, taking Souldin's arm and thrusting it in the air. "Ladies and gentlemen, once more, our grand winner Souldin! Everybody give it up for him!"

Both MoD and Souldin were grinning with pride as the applause ensued. Back behind them, the three female hosts looked pretty happy with themselves as well.

**~Afterparty~**

Three hours later, after the dust settled and the obviously-secretly-planned-by-Kat-party had finished, the four judges were the only ones, left, accompanied only by a sea of confetti, that was definitely thirty-seven trap doors worth.

MoD was all but bathing in the confetti, eyes closed, head tilted back. "You're cleaning this, Kat," he stated matter-of-factly. "All of it. I hope you know that."

"I have a trap door for that," was the equally ensured reply from the other side of the confetti where Kat was submerged.

"I bet you do," was the mumbled reply.

Araceli sat on the edge of the stage, kicking her feet absentmindedly through the streamers. "You know, this was worth coming back for," she mused.

"It was definitely worth it to have you back," MoD replied, grinning.

"Wow, things have just changed so much!" Mouse stated out loud from the stage, where she was pacing around in a mixture of thoughtfulness and hyperactivity. MoD could understand what she meant; while Kat had stopped writing for awhile and Ace had begun to drift away, Mouse had become the most popular and influential writer in the Smash Brothers Section while MoD stayed about the same as he ever had. Many friends came and went through the section, the departure of old talents being made easier by the arrival of new ones.

MoD was certainly glad he stayed.

"You know what, guys?" he told the others in his crew. "Delays aside, we all did a pretty good job. Created a great concept, got some great pieces, threw a hell of a party and most importantly, didn't give up. We killed it."

"Damn straight," Araceli replied, eyes shining.

"Woot!" A fist popped through the confetti where Kat was determined to be at.

"So," Ace brought up, "what do you think this will mean for the less popular Smashers?"

A bit of contemplative silence filled the room. Even Kat popped her head out of the confetti and made eye contact with the others.

"Well, I'm not sure," MoD told them. "It takes a long time to make a Smash Brothers game, as you all know. Brawl came out in '08, and Melee in '01. It could be a few years before we truly know. We can only hope we made the best case we could."

"May Sakurai be with us," Kat nodded somberly. She turned to walk towards a table with an open box of cookies under it, but tripped on a table leg. "Ow!" she cried, kicking the table.

"There's our sign," Ace cracked dryly. "Sakurai is indeed with us."

Mouse laughed, looking over at MoD with a smile. She was surprised to see that his eyes were open, and that he was looking back at her. He smiled back.

"I hereby retire the moniker Modacelimazing42," MoD announced. "Until next time, friends."

**A/N Well, that's the game. Well, no, technically The Game is Mouse's legendary work, but you know what I mean. Many congrats to all six who placed, but most of all to Souldin. I've been itching to tell you for awhile now. **

**As for the prizes, I'll get started on the covers. I'm on a new computer so I'm still getting my bearings, but they should be out soon enough. As I said, knowing he was going to place high, Souldin's is ready. **

**As is usual, the chapter was written by the Modacelimazing42 crew in unity. Don't hold anything against any of us for the late return; life just gets in the way and I certainly couldn't have asked for a better crew to host a contest with.**

**Thanks for waiting and sticking around. I hope it was worth it for you too as it was for me.**

**~MoD**


End file.
